2026 Karate Season Pending

At Sporting Agenda we always enjoy hearing what our sponsored athletes are up to, and Ellie Gudgeon is ready to take on her 2026 season after some seriously impressive results last year.

"After a strong finish to 2025, with becoming national open weight champion and British champion, I am hoping to kick start my 2026 season the same way.

My 2026 season had a slightly delayed start as I was unwell at the start of the year, so I missed my first ranking competition of the year. It is a setback but always one that I can bounce back from.

This means my first ranking competition of the year is in April 2026 in Spain.

Leading up to this I have a run of competitions and training to keep me in the best shape for this. At the end of March, I am heading out to Poland to compete in the Central Europe Open, which I have previously won before, hoping to have a strong starting performance out here after a couple of months off competing.

After this, I am heading out to Slovakia with some of the team for the Slovakia Open which is always a big competition with top opponents, making it a great competition in the run up to a big comp.

Then my next competition will be the Scottish Grand Prix, at the start of April. I will most likely compete in my weight category as well as the open weight to get a good few matches under my belt against some familiar faces.

Finally, my last competition will be the Polish Open, in April also. This is always a good competition and finishes off a busy couple of months in the lead up to Spain at the end of April.

The goals are to put on a good performance and showcase what I’ve been working on behind the scenes when I’m on the tatami."